Blueberry-almond breakfast pastries.

I have been wanting to make homemade lil’ breakfast toaster pastries for a while now, everyone in this house have been obsessively buying them for the past few weeks, and I admit it! I was a little bit jealous. It’s also British pie week so I had the perfect excuse to make my own!

Method:Start by making the pastry, mix together all the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl, with a whisk. Rub in the margarine with your finger tips until the mixture resembles large bread crumbs. Add the almond milk 1 tablespoon at a time and stir it gently in, until the dough comes together. Wrap the dough in cling film and place in the refrigerator for half an hour.

Whilst the dough is chilling make the filling. Heat the blueberries with the sugar on a medium heat, until the liquid starts coming out of the berries. In a measuring cup, whisk together the cornflour and the water, bring the blueberries up to a gentle bubble, add in the cornflour mix, whisk and cook until thickened, transfer to a bowl and allow to cool.

Preheat the oven to 180c/360f.

To put the pastries together, roll the dough out on a floured surface until you get a big rectangle about 1/8 inch thick. Separate the big rectangle into 6-8 smaller rectangles. Grab one of your rectangles and spoon a heaped tablespoon of the filling onto one half of the rectangle, brush around the edge of the pastry with water and fold over the pastry and gently press down the edges with a fork, transfer with to a lined baking sheet, and repeat the process for the rest of the pastry pieces. Brush the pastry with almond milk, pierce the tops with a skewer (so air can escape when baking) bake for 20-25 minutes until they start to turn golden. Allow to cool for 5 minutes on the baking trays then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

For the icing topping, add the wet ingredients and slowly whisk together until you get an icing the thickness of royal icing, spread on top of the cooled pastries and allow to dry before transferring them to an air tight container (or eating straight away). To heat the pastries in the toaster use a toaster bag and heat for about 3-4 minutes.

Definitely added to my list of things to work on. They just look too good!

By the way, if you’ve got any gluten-free cookie tips they would be gratefully received. I can do crunchy ones or soft ones. I haven’t yet worked out chewy, even when I add things that should be chewy (oats, golden syrup, dessicated coconut etc.). Without the gluten they never turn out quite right – it’s one of those baking chemistry mysteries! So much to learn, so little time…

Hmmmm, try adding a 1-2 tbsps of cornflour, it works for keeping most non gluten free cookies chewy on the inside yet crisp on the outside, Ive got a gluten free cookie post coming up in about two days time (after a non gluten-free pizza post)

NOOOO Marmite is toxic algal bloom (especially to we Aussies😉 ) “Marm” is his Liverpudlian/Sarf end on sea (he moved when he was 4) word for marmalade😉. When he worked on building sites as a teenager they would all start their day by dropping into a cafe and buying thick slabs of toast with marmalade and large strong mugs of coffee or tea to get them started. Sometimes it takes “toast and marm” to get him revved up in the mornings (old habits die hard😉 ) but after I cause a nuclear reaction in our aging toaster with those V-poptarts, I fear he is going to have to wait for his toast and marm (or cook it old school style over an open flame😉 )